When Li Chengjing's army reached Wuhuan, Song Jiujue knew that he could only sit and wait for death if he waited any longer, and he ordered to recruit 200,000 troops from all over the country within ten days to join Changling, and he would personally lead 200,000 troops to support the southwest and fight Li Chengjing to the death.

Duan Shaoling had already planted spies in Changling, and reported it to Li Chengjing as soon as he learned the news.

Li Chengjing convened all the generals to discuss countermeasures, and the generals agreed that they should immediately send troops to reinforce Duan Shaoling, try to hold back Song Jiujue's army, and at the same time order all localities to strengthen their vigilance.

Li Chengjing listened to everyone's opinions, dispatched 30,000 additional soldiers from Zhaoye, and hurried to Xinchuan to support Duan Shaoling, and also told Duan Shaoling that Xinchuan could keep the rules, and when he couldn't hold it, he should retreat to save his strength, and don't fight hard with Song Jiujue. Then he ordered that if the cities encountered Song Jiujue's army, they could only hold on and not fight privately, and those who violated the order would be dealt with by military law.

After Song Jiujue's army of 200,000 was assembled, the troops were divided into three routes, bypassing Jingu and marching towards Xinchuan. On the one hand, Duan Shaoling continued to send troops to raid the enemy's flank and rear many times, disturbing the enemy's morale and slowing down their advance, and on the other hand, he stepped up the laying of layers of barriers from the beginning of ten miles from Xinchuan.

Under Duan Shaoling's deployment, it took Song Jiujue's army a full month to reach Xinchuan County, and then launched round after round of lightning offensives against Xinchuan County.

Duan Shaoling led the three armies to hold on for half a month, but finally could not resist Song Jiujue's offensive, seeing that Xinchuan could not hold it, so he decided to retreat to Tongqu Pass.

In the early morning of the 16th, Duan Shaoling was arranging for the three armies to retreat south to Tongqu Pass in an orderly manner. At this juncture, the soldier in charge of the broken rear of the front line suddenly came to report: Song Jiujue led his army and was retreating.

Duan Shaoling was frightened and ordered all the soldiers to stay put, and he followed the soldiers to the city gate, and sure enough, he saw that Song Jiujue's army was retreating, it seemed that they were retreating in the direction of Changling, and the speed of retreat was very urgent, it must have happened a major change in Changling. But he didn't understand what kind of change would make Song Jiujue rather give up Xinchuan at his fingertips, and hurry to go back?

Duan Shaoling recalled the three armies to rearm the defenses, and then sent spies to Changling to find out what had happened.

After three hours, the spies reported: It turned out that Commander Ma, who was in charge of the four cities and eighteen counties around Changling, under the command of Song Jiujue, had been plotting to seize the throne for a long time, and took advantage of the fact that Song Jiujue led the army into the southwest and the Changling defenders were weak to launch a mutiny, and quickly occupied Changling.

After Li Chengjing learned the news, she asked Duan Shaoling to stand still for the time being, and first sit and watch the two sides of Song and Ma fight to the death.

A few days later, in the middle of the night, Duan Shaoling had already fallen asleep, and an urgent knock on the door woke him up, and the soldier urgently reported: "Commander Ma of Changling is asking for a meeting outside the city with a few soldiers. ”

Duan Shaoling, who was drowsy, woke up instantly, he didn't know why Commander Ma came, but he only brought a few soldiers, obviously without malicious intent, so he asked the soldiers to invite Commander Ma to the main hall.

Duan Shaoling sorted out his clothes and went to the main hall first, and then the soldiers walked in with a man dressed in the uniform of the commander of the Song army. The person who came was about forty years old, with a fierce face, and although he came alone, he did not show the slightest fear.

"Hello, Commander Duan, the contemptible surname is Ma." He made a gesture and stretched out the right hand of friendship.

Duan Shaoling shook hands with him, ordered someone to watch the tea on the seat, and asked, "At this juncture, Commander Ma ventured out of the city and visited late at night, I don't know what to do?" ”

Commander Ma said: "The contemptible people came to visit late at night because they wanted to give a big gift to Commander-in-Chief Li, and I hope that Commander Duan can forward it on his behalf. The words showed great sincerity, and there was no hint of teasing

Duan Shaoling was curious: "I don't know what gift Commander Ma has for our commander-in-chief?" ”

Commander Ma said: "Commander-in-Chief Li's troops are besieging Fengyong City, but it is difficult to break through, does Commander Duan know why?" He went on to say: "One is naturally that Fengyong City itself is strong and difficult to break, plus Fengyong City has the most elite troops and firepower of the Bai family in Fengyong City, and the most important point is that Bai Jingyi has been waiting for Song Jiujue's reinforcements to arrive, if Song Jiujue's 200,000 troops really reach the southwest, plus the troops in Fengyong City, Commander-in-Chief Li may have even more headaches." ”

Duan Shaoling said: "Commander Ma is right, if Commander Ma hadn't captured Changling this time, leading Song Jiujue's army back to the division, now this Xinchuan County has already been captured by Song Jiujue, and then his army will go all the way to the southwest and Bai Jingyi to attack our commander-in-chief's army, so I should thank Commander Ma for the commander-in-chief first." ”

Duan Shaoling's words were difficult to distinguish, and Commander Ma didn't think about it, smiled, and said: "The position of the marshal is inhabited by capable people, Song Jiujue is stubborn and unbearable, and even colludes with foreign countries to sell the country, and has long lost the hearts of the people, why can't I get the support of the generals and replace it?" ”

Duan Shaoling smiled lightly: "Then I will first wish Commander Ma a victory and sit firmly in the commander's position." ”

Commander Ma stopped going around in circles and said: "I know that it is not easy to defeat Song Jiujue with my current strength, if Commander Duan can send troops to help me, you and I will be flanked by the two armies, and Song Jiujue will be defeated." At the same time, as long as Song Jiujue is eliminated, Bai Jingyi's last hope will be shattered, and Fengyong City will be broken soon. It's arguably the best of both worlds. ”

Duan Shaoling was silent after hearing this, Commander Ma stood up and said sincerely: "I beg Commander Duan to convey my sincerity to Commander-in-Chief Li, I will wait for good news at any time." ”

At the meeting, Li Chengjing and the generals had a heated discussion, and everyone was divided into two factions, one faction thought that they didn't have to pay attention to the surname Ma at all, and let him and Song Jiujue fight to the death, and then Li Jiajun would sit back and collect the power of the fisherman, and then maybe they could destroy the two lords of Song and Bai at the same time and pacify the world in one fell swoop.

The other faction supported an alliance with Commander Ma, as it was indeed their best chance to break through Fengyong City. If Song Ma were allowed to continue fighting, there would be three outcomes: either side would win, or they would be reconciled, but either case would be detrimental to them. It is better to take advantage of Commander Ma's eagerness to form an alliance, they can not only successfully break through Fengyong City, but also get the greatest benefits from Commander Ma.

The opposing side saw that Li Chengjing wanted to agree to cooperate with Commander Ma, and no longer had any scruples to say the most fundamental question: Once the two sides cooperate with Commander Ma, the relationship between the two sides is an alliance, how can the commander-in-chief lead the army to the Northern Expedition? How to dominate the world?

Maybe the alliance is just an expedient measure, after taking the southwest, the commander-in-chief can tear up the alliance and continue to wave his troops north, but in this way, the commander-in-chief will become a treacherous person, whether he wins or loses, he will be scolded by the people of the world, and even become the target of public criticism.

Li Chengjing was silent for a long time, and finally said her heart: she adhered to her father's last wish, thinking day and night about how to strengthen herself, and then sweep away the Quartet.

But the more she tried her best, the more she realized how difficult it was to unify the world, and she also understood why her father could only maintain the situation of dominating South China after many years of hard work, in addition to the strength of his own strength, the more important thing was timing, and the most important thing was providence.

Just like this war, she almost decided the world in one fell swoop, but the result was still unable to withstand the will of heaven, and the plague from heaven made her lose all her previous achievements, and then the war situation has gone through several twists and turns to today's situation.

She can ignore Commander Ma's request now, and then continue to attack Fengyong City, but according to the current situation, if she attacks the city at all costs, even if she captures it, her own strength will be greatly damaged. Besiege but not attack, and after a long time, I don't know what will happen.

It may not be the time to unify the world, or maybe the will of heaven is really not in her. She decided not to wait any longer, seize the best opportunity in front of her, form an alliance with Commander Ma, and use his power to destroy Bai Jingyi.

After this reluctance, all the generals agreed in favor of forming an alliance with Commander Ma, and the Northern Expedition could only wait for the opportunity. As long as Bai Jingyi is destroyed, he will already get most of the world, and the commander-in-chief is in his prime, and it will be a matter of time before he continues to work hard to rule the world.

Li Chengjing put forward two requirements in the treaty: first, to catch Song Jiujue, whether he is dead or alive, Commander Ma will send soldiers to either escort Song Jiujue's people or his body to Fengyong City. Second, Song Jiujue's participation in the war once brought endless losses to Li Jiajun, and Commander Ma wanted to replace Song Jiujue, so he naturally had to bear the mistakes that Song Jiujue put down, and he had to pay Li Jiajun a war indemnity of 2 million oceans. Third, Jingu will be owned by the Li family army from now on, and all the soldiers in the north must withdraw, so that the two sides can get along on an equal footing from now on, and they can no longer fight recklessly.

In the face of all Li Chengjing's requests, Commander Ma gladly accepted, and during the extraordinary period, the two sides first secretly reached a verbal agreement, and then formally signed a treaty after defeating Song Jiujue, Li Chengjing ordered Duan Shaoling to fully assist Commander Ma in attacking Song Jiujue.

When Song Jiujue was about to take Xinchuan in one fell swoop, he suddenly received news that Commander Ma had launched a mutiny and had come to the city of Changling, so he didn't care about the war in Xinchuan and immediately returned to the division, but he didn't expect that Commander Ma was faster than him, and when his army arrived in the city, Changling had been occupied by Commander Ma.

Song Jiujue angrily reprimanded Commander Ma, and then ordered the siege of the city, but the attack for many days was still in vain. Song Jiujue had no choice but to lead the army into Gaoyuan first, to take Gaoyuan as a base, and then attack Changling in two ways.

And what he didn't expect was that Commander Ma had secretly formed an alliance with Li Chengjing, and as a result, he was outflanked by Commander Ma and Duan Shaoling's army on the way back from both sides.

Song Jiujue's soldiers arrived at the door of the house but could not return home, their morale was already low, and they were even more unintentional to fight when they were attacked from both sides at this time, and they were immediately defeated. Song Jiujue desperately fought his way to the south, and instead came to Luyao County, which did not throw himself at Commander Ma, and the 200,000 troops he brought from Changling are now less than 80,000.

Song Jiujue had just run to Lu Yao on the front foot, and the army of Duan Ma on the back foot followed closely to Lu Yao, and Lu Yao was surrounded on three sides.

Commander Ma attacked during the day, and in the dead of night he learned about Liu Bang's embattlement of Xiang Yu, and sent the soldiers of Changling to tell the soldiers in the city that their relatives were fine, but they missed them very much, and hoped that they could go home as soon as possible.

For more than ten days, those words gradually crept into the hearts of the soldiers like a spell.

In the middle of the night of the eighteenth, Commander Ma launched a general attack on Lu Yao, the homesick soldiers turned against each other, Lu Yao was broken, Song Jiujue fled north in a hurry with only 10,000 soldiers, and was ambushed by Duan Shaoling's 50,000 troops halfway through, and almost all the troops were annihilated.

Song Jiujue's momentum was gone, he didn't want to be a prisoner, so he committed suicide with a gun with the last dignity.